Topic: Varnashrama-dharma system

An old film, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, recounts the life of a Texas folk hero who brought law and order to the Wild West. Armed with a hefty law book, Bean appoints himself judge of a rugged frontier town and sets up court in a bar. He reforms fighters and gamblers into law- abiding sheriffs and deputies who protect the citizens from marauders. The town prostitutes, properly married...

I’ve described the evolution of a world economic system in which cow slaughter plays a central role. Now I want to contrast that system with Krishna’s varnashrama model of society as presented by Srila Prabhupada. In the next several columns I’ll compare how the two systems define the relationship between farmers and the land, farmers and the cows, and finally farmers and the Supreme Personality...

Confusing “cast” with “caste” is an innocent error, but mistaking Lord Krishna’s varnashrama system for an oppressive, hereditary class structure is a far more serious blunder.
Baseball, to most anyone’s mind, has little in common with the Indian caste system, which rigidly divides society into four hereditary classes. But for me there’s a subtle link between the two, as the result of an injury I...

originally published in Back to Godhead Magazine in 1980
The Republican Party seems to have emerged from its recent national convention as a reconstituted American conservative party, and the November elections may give the voters at least the appearance of choice between a clear right and a clear left. They say this is a good thing, but I have always had a problem making that kind of choice, and...

Krishna consciousness is practical. For spiritual advancement, you don’t have to renounce everything, go to the forest, and simply chant Hare Krishna all day long. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna explains that all of us should continue to perform our duties according to our nature, but we should work with love and devotion as an offering to Him. Thereby every one of us can attain spiritual...